Four Times
by EvilRegalOncer
Summary: Four times Andromeda comforted Narcissa, and one she didn't. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**_DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter isn't mine. Sigh._**

**_I coudn't wait till it was finished to upload it, so i decided to split it into two parts: "Young" Meda and Cissy and older Meda and Cissy. Also, just to clear up any possible confusion, I had this random idea that Bella would call Andromeda "Andie" because it doesn't sound proper._**

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><p><em>BOOM!<em>

Andromeda stirred slightly from her sleep and rolled over. She wasn't about to be woken by a simple thunderstorm. However, in the next instant her bedroom door banged open and a young girl with curly blonde hair shot under the covers and curled against Andromeda, whimpering like a puppy.

Andromeda woke with a start. "Oi, what the—?" She sat bolt upright and grabbed her wand. Lighting its tip with a quick spell, she prepared for a battle only to find herself face-to-face with her sister. "Cissy! What are you doing here?"

Her question was answered as a monstrous thunderclap shook the house. Narcissa Black yelped and threw her arms around Andromeda, face buried in the brunette's neck. "Meda, make it stop!"

"You're almost nine, Narcissa," Andromeda sighed. "Too old for this nonsense." Even as she spoke, the young witch slid her arms around Narcissa and held her tight. "Shh. It's okay." Andromeda gently stroked the younger Black's hair. "You're safe."

A few minutes passed, but Narcissa couldn't cease her shivering as the house continued to quake, thunder splitting the skies. Andromeda drew her little sister closer. "Shush, Cissy." Her voice took on a lilting, almost song-like quality. "Don't be afraid, Cissy, I'm right here. Everything's fine, you're all right."

Narcissa snuggled as near to Andromeda as she could. "Don't leave me, Meda."

The brunette's lips gently brushed her sister's forehead. "Never."

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><p>"Cissy, have you seen my hair clip?" exclaimed twelve-year-old Andromeda as she dug through the drawers of her dresser. "It's that green and black one shaped like a rose, and I can't find it anywhere! I want to take it to Hogwarts with me."<p>

"No," mumbled Narcissa from her position on the bed. She was lying on her side facing away from Andromeda, lips pursed into a pout. "What d'you need it for anyways? I don't think it's that pretty."

Andromeda stopped her searching and turned to raise an eyebrow at her little sister. "Merlin, Cissa, what's gotten into you? You're in a worse mood than Bella."

"I heard that!" Bella snapped from across the hall, and a second later one of Bella's shoes came flying at Andromeda's head. Andromeda ducked, yelping with laughter.

"Sorry, Bella, but it's true."

"Eff you, Andie," Bella grumbled, but from the tone of her voice it was clear she was smiling. Andromeda stuck her head out the door and made a very un-ladylike gesture at her older sister, which caused Bella to break into laughter.

Giggling along with the eldest Black sister, Andromeda turned back to Narcissa. "Oh, cheer up, Cissy! One more year and you'll be able to come to Hogwarts with us."

"That's just the problem," Narcissa whined, finally sitting up and facing Andromeda with a petulant expression on her face. "There's another whole year of me staying here in this big old house with Mother and Father and nobody to play with unless Auntie Walburga brings Siri and Reg over. Waiting for you and Bella to write and wishing I could be there with you and only getting to see you on holiday." She blinked back tears, lips quivering. "And sometimes I think that you and Bella have more fun on your own and you don't need me."

"Narcissa Chastity Black." Andromeda sat on the edge of the bed and smiled softly, running a hand through her little sister's golden mane. "We love you, and that's the truth. You're part of the Black sisters, Cissy; the power of three, remember? We can't have three without you." She grinned. "Besides, who could stand to be around just Bella all the time?"

A watery giggle escaped Narcissa's mouth; because Andromeda had said so, certainly it must be true. She leaned forward and threw her arms around Andromeda, burying her face into her sister's soft brown hair. Andromeda held her, soothingly massaging Narcissa's scalp with the tips of her fingernails. "Meda, will you write to me just like last year?"

"Of course, and Bella will too. I'll Stupefy her and put her in a chair if need be," Andromeda said with mock ferocity. "We'll tell you everything just like before. It'll be fine, you'll see." A low hum vibrated in her throat, and Narcissa relaxed as the now-familiar mantra washed over her eardrums, more comforting than any lullaby that had ever come from her own mother's lips:

"Shush, Cissy, it's all right. I'm here, everything's fine." Andromeda pressed a gentle kiss to Narcissa's temple. "And I promise I won't ever leave you."

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><p>"Andromeda!"<p>

Narcissa tore up the stairs, Bellatrix's fury-soaked words still pounding in her skull. It couldn't be true; Meda knew better than that, she would never fall in love with a Mudblood! Bella was lying, or delusional, or someone had decided it would be a good romp to spread rumors about a member of the House of Black and some filthy Hufflepuff boy. No, surely, _surely_—

"What," Andromeda said coldly as she stood in the doorway of her room, trunk in one hand and wand in the other. Her eyes were twin mirrors of polished slate, hard and flat and unyielding. Narcissa skidded to a halt, all the air crushed from her lungs. No. _NO._

"What, Cissy? You wanted me to tell you it was a lie? You wanted me to agree to marry whatever piece of scum Mother and Father picked out for me, to behave like a good little girl?" Her words were no longer sound but instead flakes of flint that lashed at Narcissa's skin, cutting her with their viciousness and sharp edges. "No. I would rather die."

Narcissa shook her head, blindly groping for words, frantic to make this nightmare somehow go away. "How? How could you do this?"

"Love knows no blood," Andromeda said quietly, softening just a bit because it was Cissy and she loved her little sister, naïve and innocent as the youngest Black sister still was even at fifteen. "It's something Bella could never understand and something I know you won't because you haven't seen enough to know better."

"I didn't mean that," she shrieked, half-crazed with fear and desperation. "I meant how could you do this to us?"

_Us._ The power of three; _Us_. Bellatrix and Andromeda and Narcissa; _Us_. Three girls who swore to never leave each other's side, to be there no matter what because a bond more powerful than any other linked them, a bond of blood and love. _Us._

A shiver ran the length of Andromeda's spine, and in another lifetime Narcissa might have felt guilty. "I'm not choosing him over you. You're deciding to view it that way. I am leaving my life, my house and my parents. But not you, Cissy, never you."

Narcissa frowned, perplexed for a second because the tone of her older sister's voice had sounded like she was only speaking to her. "And Bella."

Andromeda literally flinched as if the name of her other half pained her. "No. I am leaving Bella…because Bella has left me." She breathed deeply; if it had been anyone else Narcissa would have thought that Meda was trying to get herself under control, but of course that was impossible. Meda never cried. "She's changing, Cissy, and I know you don't see it. But you know what, it's okay." She managed a smile. "Because one day you'll find yourself and you'll escape. I don't know when, whether tomorrow or fifty years from now, but someday, Cissy, I promise you that you'll find a way out too."

"You're not making any sense!" Narcissa shut her eyes, trying to block out the world, wishing with all her might and even trying to channel the magic in her blood to put things back to the way they were supposed to be. Back to before Mudbloods and Hogwarts and marriages when there were just three little girls whose love for one another was more than enough. "Stop, Andromeda! Just…just stop." Her knees buckled and she collapsed against the floor, fighting the urge to be violently sick. "Stop."

There was a rustle as Andromeda set down her trunk and knelt, taking Narcissa in her arms. All the love in the world flowed through her hands as she stroked her little sister's hair, exceedingly gentle as if the blonde were a fragile glass doll that would break at the slightest jostle. "I love you, Narcissa Black," she whispered. "Don't ever forget that. I love you so much."

"Don't leave." Narcissa clutched the sleeve of Andromeda's dress so tightly her fingers ached. "Please, Meda, I need you. Bella does too; I don't know what you're thinking, but she does. She'd die if you ever left her."

"I can't let Bella control me anymore." Her voice was strained, keeping a tight rein on all the emotions swimming within it. "I have to live my life, Cissy. Bella tolerates this world because she believes in it. You actually enjoy it. But it's killing me."

"You promised," Narcissa sobbed, her entire body shaking with betrayal. "You promised you wouldn't leave me."

"I told you, I'm not. You're deciding to see it that way." Andromeda released a wobbly sigh and buried her face into Narcissa's hair. "Shh, Cissy, shh. It's okay." A moment passed before she added, almost too quietly to be heard, "I'm sorry."


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I, sadly, am not Queen Rowling, so therefore none of these lovely characters are mine. All I own is the computer I'm typing on.**

Narcissa sat in her bedroom, shaking, unable to stop tears from flowing down her cheeks. Downstairs she could hear the soft hiss of the Dark Lord's voice, punctuated at intervals by Bellatrix's low murmur and occasionally a word or two from Draco. This couldn't be happening, surely she must be having some kind of awful nightmare—Draco could not be receiving the Mark, not at sixteen, not after what had happened to his father.

"It's an honor, Cissy," Bellatrix had breathed, eyes alight. "You should be so proud that the Dark Lord is willing to initiate Draco at such a young age. And to give him such a task—why, not even Lucius would be entrusted to perform that which is being asked of Draco."

But it was a trap, Narcissa knew it. What reason could the Dark Lord possibly have for entrusting the murder of Albus Dumbledore to a boy? And if Draco failed, which he was sure to do—Narcissa had to smother a cry, clamping her hand over her lips. No. Not after losing her husband; she needed Draco….

_I wish Andromeda was here._

Unbidden the thought crossed her mind, and a second later the blonde felt shock and surprise pounding through her veins. That name had not been uttered by anyone in years, so many that Narcissa had lost track. She had trained herself not to think, to forget that the House of Black had once claimed three sisters instead of two. To forget Andromeda's smile, her laugh and her voice, the warmth of her arms as she held her little sister after a storm or a bad dream…

A scrap of memory tickled the back of Narcissa's brain. She frowned, tugging at it, trying to remember. For the first time in uncounted years—to remember her lost sister. Slowly, as if struggling up from the murky depths, a song began dancing softly through time. As the seconds passed, it became clearer and clearer, until Andromeda's voice crooned softly in Narcissa's ear. _"Shush, Cissy, don't be afraid. It will be all right. I'm here; Meda's here, you're okay…"_

Slowly Narcissa wrapped her arms around herself, closing her eyes. She could almost feel Andromeda's body against hers, soft brown hair tickling her skin and the scent of vanilla enveloping her like a wreath. _"It's okay, Cissy, don't be afraid. I'm right here…"_

But for the first time, Andromeda lied.

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><p>It was very quiet at the cemetery. Narcissa blinked back the familiar wetness in her eyes as she walked between the rows of her ancestors, ones who had borne the noble name of Black long before she was even thought of. Crystal-blue eyes searched out the back row, looking for a marker as dark as night. Dark as the heart of the woman it stood guard over.<p>

At first Narcissa thought her eyes were tricking her in the dim evening light. As she drew nearer, however, her first impression was confirmed: Someone was standing at Bella's grave. The blonde's first thought was that someone was trying to deface it, but whoever it was made no movement. They simply stared at the ebony headstone, posture almost painfully rigid. Then, as Narcissa watched, the stranger let out a cry and fell to the ground. Head tilting forward, thick copper curls spilled out of the hood of the figure's cloak, glinting like polished Knuts. Narcissa's heart stopped; she knew instantly who was there—and, more importantly, why. _Meda._

Unconsciously she walked up to Andromeda but then stopped mere inches away, hesitant, wondering if the shattered woman before her would lash out if Narcissa attempted to reach her. But then Andromeda's shoulders heaved as a cracked sob burst from her throat, and before Narcissa knew what was happening, she was on her knees with her arms around her sister—her only sister now—holding her so tight it was a wonder the elder didn't smother.

Looking back, it was a miracle Andromeda didn't push Narcissa away, at the very least. But Andromeda was alone, alone and broken and hurting. At the moment, her rage and grief only had one target. A target she had known from the day she was born; someone who had once laughed with her and joked with her, argued over pointless things (and later, things so important Narcissa would have never imagined); someone who had protected them both before her soul sold itself to darkness. "DAMN YOU!" Andromeda screamed into the winter skies. Narcissa winced but kept her hold as Andromeda's fingers dug into her coat. "I hate you….I hate you….I hate you." Over and over Andromeda snarled into Narcissa's chest, but as the minutes ticked away her words became softer and softer. Then, almost too softly to be heard, she whimpered—the sounds tore at Narcissa's already-aching heart—"Bella…."

The action came automatically. As Andromeda's tears began anew, Narcissa rested her head atop her sister's and began to stroke the smooth copper curls, eyes drifting half-shut. "Shh, Meda, shh. It's all right." Her voice cracked and she had to blink back her own tears. "I'm here, it's all right."

But it wasn't all right, and never would be again.

**AN: I originally planned to have Narcissa and Andromeda after the Battle, but then I remembered I'd already written that story. So I changed it to Bellatrix's grave. Please review!**


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